Called to Chastity
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Simplified
Integration of Sexuality into the Personal (2337)
Chastity is the successful integration of sexuality in the inner union of man's body and soul. Sexuality expresses man's belonging to the bodily and biological world. It becomes truly human when integrated into the relationship of spouses in their lifelong mutual gift to each other. Chastity involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.
Self-Mastery or Being Dominated (2338-2339)
Chaste persons maintain the integrity of their sexual powers, and insure a unity of the person. Chastity does not tolerate a double life.
Chastity demands an apprenticeship in self-mastery (a training in human freedom). Man either governs his passions or is dominated by them. Freed from slavery to his passions, man gains his dignity and freely chooses the good.
Means to Chastity (2340-2342)
Remaining faithful and resisting temptations require adopting the needed means: self-knowledge, self-discipline, obedience to God's commands, moral virtues, and prayer. "By chastity, we are led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into multiplicity" (St. Augustine).
Chastity allows reason to permeate the passions and sensual appetites.
This needed self-mastery is an exacting work requiring efforts at every stage of life, especially in childhood and adolescence.
Growing in Chastity (2343-2345)
Chastity has laws of growth with stages marked by imperfection and even by sin. Man accomplishes moral good by many free decisions made in these stages of growth.
Because personal betterment and the improvement of society are interdependent, chastity requires a cultural effort. The person has a right to an education which respects the spiritual values of human life.
Besides being a moral virtue, chastity is also a fruit of the Spirit who enables man to be pure.
Chastity Expressed in Friendship (2346-2347)
Chastity brings about self-mastery (the gift of an ordered self) and bears witness of God's loving kindness.
Chastity blossoms into friendship and allows the person to imitate Christ and to share in his divine life. Chastity is a promise of immortality.
Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with others (whether of the same or opposite sex).
Various States of Chastity (2348-2349)
All the baptized are called to chastity according to their state in life.
Those who profess virginity or consecrated celibacy must give themselves to God with an undivided heart. Others (single or married) live chastity by their state. Married people practice conjugal chastity. Single people must practice continence. "There are three forms of chastity - that of the spouses, of the widows, and of the virgins. We do not praise one to the exclusion of the others" (St. Ambrose).
Chastity of the Engaged (2350)
The engaged must live chastity in continence, seeing their engagement as a time of mutual respect and fidelity. They should help each other in chastity and reserve for marriage those expressions of love which belong to married couples.
Six Sins Against Chastity (2351-2356)
Lust is a disordered desire or an inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself or isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.
Masturbation is the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs to derive sexual pleasure. Masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action because sexual pleasure is sought outside the context of marriage. An equitable judgment about the person's moral responsibility must take account of the person's affective immaturity, the force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, and other emotional or social factors that lessen and even extenuate moral culpability.
Fornication (a carnal union between an unmarried man and woman) is gravely contrary to human sexuality which exists for the good of spouses and procreation of children. A grave scandal exists when the young are corrupted in this matter.
Pornography displays real or simulated sexual acts to a third party, thus perverting the conjugal act. It gravely harms those who pose for pornography and those who distribute and sell (vendors). All those involved are immersed in a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and sale of pornography.
Prostitution reduces the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The person sins gravely against his own body (a temple of the Spirit). Unfortunately, prostitution is a social scourge which even involves children and adolescents (the sin of scandal). While always gravely sinful, imputability can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.
Rape (the forcible violation of another person's sexual intimacy) deeply wounds the victim's freedom. It often marks the victim for life. Rape is always an intrinsically evil act. Even more grave is incest (the rape of children by parents or by those to whom they are entrusted).
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